US Immigration – The Basics

Alyson BallAlysonhoweball@gmail.com

NOTE: This presentation is constantly changing to reflect updates and corrections. Please do not distribute, copy or post this presentation without permission from the author, above.

Agenda

1. The Heart of the Matter – Visitors/Citizens

2. A Closer Look at DHS and DOJ

3. A Word about Unauthorized Residents

4. Virginia Immigration Overview

5. What can you do now?

The Heart of the Matter on Immigration

Who can come to the US?- 1882 – Chinese Exclusion Act (barring Chinese laborers) (1875 – Page Act – no Chinese women)

- 1917 Immigration Act – Literacy Test, Barred people from Asia (Turkey – Indonesia)

- Immigration Act of 1924 – National Origins Quota (% of population) – Visas required to enter the country

- 1965 – INA – Hart-Celler – Family Pref. and Skills, Caps on Countries, Broadens Geography, Temp. Visas

Who is (can become) a US citizen?- Naturalization Act of 1790 - “Free white persons” with 2 years residency

- Naturalization Law of 1802 - All immigrants can become citizens – “Report and Register” – 5 year wait

- 1848/54 – Mexicans can opt to become US citizens (Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and Gadsden Purchase)

- 1868 – 14th Amendment – “all persons born or naturalized in the US........are citizens” (African Americans)

- “jus soli” (right of the soil) not “jus sangunis” (right of blood)

- 1924 – Native Americans born in the United States are citizens

Today : US Issues Millions of Visas Each Year(L = Law, X = Executive Order, * = legal annual cap)

TEMPORARY VISITORSApprox. 9 million per year

(L)Travel/Business Visas=7 million

(L)Student/Exch. Visas = 800K

(L) Spec Worker Visas = 180K* • H1B, H2A, H2B

(L,X)Temp. Protected Status=300K

(X) DACA = 700K

PATHS TO CITIZENSHIPApprox. 700-750,000 per year

(L) Family = 460K*

(L) EB Work Permits = 140K*

(L) Diversity (Lottery) = 50K*

(L,X) Refugee = 30K* (2019)

(L)Special Immigrant Visas = 16K

(L) Asylees = 20-30K

Department of Homeland Security ($44B – 2018)(These 3 areas were formerly INS in DOJ, 2003)

CBP = Customs and Border Protection ($16.7B - 2018)US Ports of Entry (ex. Incoming Int’l Flights, Nogales AZ/MX)Inspect Visitors, Returning Americans, Cargo

Includes Border Patrol = Border Agents between ports of entry

ICE = Immigration and Customs Enforcement ($8.8B – 2018)

Operates across the US, manages detention centersIncludes ERO = Enforcement and Removal Operations20,000 employees, 400 offices

USCIS = Naturalization of citizens ($3.3B – 2018)

US Detention CentersICE – ERO (Enforcement and Removal Operation)Source: Natl Immigrant Justice Center - ICE data

Hundreds of Facilities = For-profit, Federal, and Local

For-profit example: CoreCivic, 128 facilities, NYSE: CXW

71% of detainees held in privately-operated facilities

$30 - $169/day/inmate

Avg beds/day = 38,000 (2017), 39,300 (2018), 50,000 (current)

51% “non-criminal”, “posing no threat” (Nov, 2017)

Department of Justice ($27.7B – 2018)Immigration Courts (no separation)

Department of Justice = Immigration Courts Decides: (1) Removable? (2) Relief from removal?

Immigration = Civil Matter, legal representation not required

Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR)

- 58 Courts, 395 Judges

- 800,000+ cases backlogged (detention, bond, waiting)

- Appeals: Board of Immigration Appeals (part of DOJ)

Circuit Courts, Supreme Court (outside of DOJ)

45.2 million Immigrants SOURCE: Pew Research Center (2016)

Naturalized Citizens

44%(20.2m)

Lawful Perm.

Residents27%(12.2m)

Temp Lawful Residents5% (2.1m)

Unauthorized24% (10.7m)

Country Origin of Unauthorized ResidentsSource: Center for Immigration Studies

58%19%

13%

6% 4%

1990 = 3.5M (1%)

Mexico

Cent American

Eur/Africa

Asia

S. America

53%

20%

12%

12%3%

2016=10.8M (3.3%)

11m Unauthorized = Border Crossers & OverstayersMore Overstayers each year since 2007

Source: Center for Migration Studies

BORDER CROSSERS

EWI = Entry w/o Inspection

58% of total

6.4 million people

VISA OVERSTAYERS

42% of total

4.6 million people

Unauthorized Residents

• 2/3 have lived in the US 10 years or longer (Migration Policy Institute)• 16 million people live in mixed-status families

- 200,000 mixed-status marriages- 4.7 million US citizen children born to unauthorized parent(s)

• Recent US Immigration laws - focus on unauthorized- 1986 (Reagan) - Immigration Reform and Control Act

- Regularization (amnesty) for 3 million unauthorized - Executive Action allows children of unauthorized to become citizens- Criminal penalties for those hiring unauthorized

- 1996 (Clinton) Illegal Imm. Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act- Unauthorized must exit US if they apply for citizenship (marriages)- DHS has waiver authority (environmental, native) for border barriers

Why do Central Americans/Mexicans want to come to the United States?

(1) Income (to make money here)• Bracero Program (1942-64) 500,000 at peak, cancelled

(2) Safety (to take refuge here)• UN 1951 Refugee Convention, 1967 Protocol• US INA and Refugee Act of 1980 • Asylum : anywhere, no detention, no returning to danger

NOTE: US destabilizes (economically and politically) many Central American countries which causes northward migration. Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Cuba, Dominican Republic.

Recent changes in US Immigration

• Travel Ban – Chad, Iran, Libya, N. Korea, Syria, Somalia, Venezuela, Yemen

• DACA – Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals - undecided

• Temp. Protected Status cancelled - 300,000 and 273,000 citizen children• El Sal (195,000) Honduras (57,000) Haitians (46,000) Nicaragua (2,000),Sudan (1,000)

• Waiting: Syria (6K) Yemen (1K) Somalia and South Sudanese

• On hold pending court hearings

• ICE – May’18 – “Zero Tolerance” policy (Criminal Charges, Detain, Deport)

• USCIS (US Citizenship and Immigration Service)• Citizenship/green card denial based on (potential) usage of public services (pending)

• Closing of overseas USCIS offices

Virginia – Immigration Facts

Total Population : 8.53 million Immigrant Population : 1,015,000 (11.9%) (US Census)Unauthorized Residents : 275,000 (3.2%) (Migration Policy Institute)DACA = 13,900 (47% of the eligible) have applied (2016) (Am Imm Council)Unauthorized Residents as % of labor force: 4.7% (Construction/Farming)Immigration Courts (# judges): Arlington (15)Primary Detention Centers : (* = owned/operated by Imm Centers of Am)

Farmville * (690), Caroline County (224) Va. Peninsula Regional Jail (54),Staunton (juvenile)

287 (g) agreements: local police deputized by ICE – Prince Wm County, Culpeper, Manassas Reg Adult Detention (Source: www.ice.gov)

What can you do now?

•Learn more•Do something locally•Support national and local organizations•Advocate for changes you’d like to see

To see this presentation on YouTube search: Alyson Ball on Immigration

Alysonhoweball@gmail.com